 Cover ofPortraits of Courage | |
| Author | George W. Bush |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | George W. Bush |
| Language | English |
| Published | February 28, 2017 |
| Publisher | Crown |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 191 |
| ISBN | 978-0-8041-8976-7 |
| OCLC | 965543768 |
| Preceded by | 41: A Portrait of My Father |
| Followed by | Out of Many, One: Portraits of America's Immigrants |
Portraits of Courage: A Commander in Chief's Tribute to America's Warriors is a book published in 2017 that includes a collection of oil paintings and stories about military veterans by former U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush.
Bush's painting started as a post-presidency pastime. He created a set of paintings in the evenings as a way to commemorate some of the veterans he has met since leaving office in 2009. This book is his first art book.[1]
The foreword was written by former First LadyLaura Bush and by GeneralPeter Pace, 16th Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. It contains sixty-six full-color portraits and a four-panel mural based on photographs of ninety-eight physically and/or mentally woundedU.S. Armed Forces veterans (Army,Marine Corps,Navy,Air Force) of theAfghanistan andIraq wars as painted by President Bush.[2] Bush wrote the descriptive prose that accompanies each painting. Bush donated his share of the proceeds from the book to the non-profitGeorge W. Bush Presidential Center.
The book is available as a hardcover and in a limited edition signed by Bush, a deluxe oversized cloth-bound book with a specially designed slipcover.[3] An audio CD read by President Bush was also released. The oil paintings portraying Sergeant First Class Ramon Padilla, Sergeant Daniel Casara, Lance Corporal Timothy John Lang, Sergeant First Class Michael R. Rodriguez, Sergeant Leslie Zimmerman, Sergeant Michael Joseph Leonard Politowicz and Lieutenant Colonel Kent Graham Solheim appear on the cover of the book (left to right, top to bottom).[4]
An exhibition of the portraits ran from March 2 to October 17, 2017 at theGeorge W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.[3]
On June 9th, 2024, an exhibition displaying the portraits began atThe American Adventure at Walt Disney World’sEpcot.
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A review byJonathan Alter inThe New York Times called Bush as "an evocative and surprisingly adept artist who has dramatically improved his technique while also doing penance for one of the greatest disasters in American history."[5]
M Neelika Jayawardane a Professor at theState University of New York-Oswego described it as "troubling that the man who sent millions of US troops to a battlefront is now attempting to re-introduce himself as a person who cares deeply for their wellbeing". Jayawardane noted that "there is no mention of these millions of people whose lives have been laid to waste by America’s imperial wars" and that "Bush puts himself to the foreground and damningly instrumentalises American soldiers asimage-rehabilitation tools". Jayawardane concludes, "we should be taking off our shoes, andlobbing them at Bush for his naked attempts to elide his responsibility for the enormity of suffering he created".[6]
